5. Cut

Lotti is forced to sit down with Lord Emrick who reveals what he is by cutting her hand and drinking her blood

  "Absolutely not." I said, defiantly.
I stood on the opposite side of the steaming bath as William. My arms were crossed and I was glaring at him.
  After my episode on the staircase he brought me to a small room, painted white with nothing but the tub which sat in the center of the room. I allowed him to quietly lead me here but now that I stood in the room I refused to take my clothes off in any part of this house.
   William smirked at me but I could sense his discomfort with the situation as well. I knew he wasn't trying to be a creepy pervert and was only trying to help but I wasn't going to let a man of... twenty?
   "William, how old are you?" I asked him.
   "Changing the subject is only going to delay this uncomfortable experience for both of us." He said, raising an eyebrow at me.
   "I was only curious. But I will not undress in front of man." I gave him a stern nod.
   "I have orders to make sure you get clean. I don't want to be in here with you but after your escape attempt I can't exactly trust you. I will, however, turn my back." He turned to face the wall away from me.
   I kept my eyes on him for several seconds before sighing and removing my coat. I kept my eyes on him the entire time I undressed but William was good to his word and didn't once move even an inch. Standing there naked I felt a wave of insecurity hit me so i quickly got into the tub of hot water.
   The feeling was sensational. I'd never had heated water surround my body. It was incredible.
"Oh my." I sighed as I leaned against the back of the tub.
   "I told you it would be fine." William said, his head turning sightly to the side.  
   "I told you not to look!" I shouted, causing him to snap his head back to the wall. "And please don't speak."
I heard a small laugh escape his lips but he stayed facing away from me and for about a minute he stayed quiet while I relaxed.
   "Soap." He said, holding a bar of something dark and solid behind his back, towards me.
I grabbed it from him and sniffed it, scrunching my nose at the perfumy smell coming from it. I shrugged and used it anyways even going so far as to lather up my hair with it.
  After I was sure I was clean, the water now a dark dirty brown, I informed William and he held out a towel for me to wrap myself in. Once I had securely wrapped it around my body I told him he could turn around.
  "Now to get you into some clean clothes." He said, avoiding looking at me.
   "I won't wear one of those hideous dresses." I told him.
   "Will I have to dress you?" He asked, looking into my eyes but quickly averting them.
He brought me to the attic room and opened the wardrobe. He pulled out a thin, lacy night gown and laid it on the bed.
   "You can sleep in this or sleep in the nude but all of your old clothes are being taken to be destroyed." He told me.
I was about to argue but he grabbed my old clothes and the bag full of my other clothes. I ran up to him, grabbing the bag and pulling it away from him. He grabbed it and tried to pull it back but I fought him for it, forgetting that I was only in a towel until it loosened and started to slide down my body. Williams eyes went wide before he looked away but I managed to grab it before it left me standing there with nothing. I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I didn't know how much he saw but I quickly forgot about my old clothes. and turned my back on William.
   "I didn't see anything." He said but I couldn't tell if it was truth or lie.
   "Just get out, please." I asked him.
   He quickly left the room without another word. I quickly dove for the night gown and threw it over my body. It left me feeling naked compared to my boy clothes, which I suddenly missed.
 
   I'd been there for a week before the real nightmare started. One day William came in with a grave look on his face. He was looking at me in that same distant way he did on the ship and I suddenly felt nervous for it. I knew he was about to do something bad. He was shutting out his humanity as much as he could. He only got that look when he didn't want to feel guilty. When he had to do something that would bring harm to me.
   "William?" I asked him softly.
   "Come with me, Lotti." He said.
I got off of the bed where I had been sitting, watching out the window. I appraoched him slowly, made nervous by his cold indifference.
   He grabbed my arm, not too gently and pulled me along down the stairs. I was too afraid to fight him, unsure of his intentions. He brought me downstairs and to a room to the left that was at the end of the long hallway. It was a small room with two lavish couches, a small wood table by the end of each of them and one long coffee table in between them. On the table were just two objects that frightened me more than William's attitude. One was a simble tea cup. The other a sharp knife.
   "What is this, William?" I asked, panic rising in my voice.
He didn't say anything he just sat me down on one of the soft couches. He pulled a rope from his coat pocket and tied my wrists together and then tied them off to the arm of the couch. I started to shake uncontrollably as my nerves sent warning shocks through my body.
   "William." I whimpered. I couldn't believe that he'd hurt me but I knew this was bad.
William paused before leaving the room. He locked his eyes on mine, still a cold look in them but for a split second I could see them soften before going back to being dark and distant. He left me. I was alone, tied to a couch.
  A minute later the door opened and Lord Emrick stepped in, a large grin taking up most of his face. He sat on the sofa opposite of me and leaned back, looking me over the way a predator would do to its prey.
   "My, my-" He started sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees. This close I could get a good look at his face. He would be considered very hansom if not for the cold soul less look in his eyes. There was something dark and evil about this man. "You are a very lovely young thing when cleaned up, aren't you?"
He continued to look me over, making me increasingly uncomfortable, before he finally leaned forward and grabbed the knife off the table.
   He touched the sharp end of the blade to his finger, drawing a small amount of blood, making me cringe. He put the bleeding finger to his tongue and lacked up the blood like he was licking sugar from it. I felt a lump rise in my throat. This man was clearly a mad man and he had me alone and tied up. My panic rose even more and the tears wanted to be released but I wouldn't let them go.
   "Give me your hand, girl." He said. Sensing my defiance he added, "I won't ask twice."
I slowly held my tied up hands out for him. He roughly grabbed my hand and held it open. Before I knew what had happened he ran the blade across my hand, cutting it open.  I winced and tried to pull away but he held firm and turned my hand over, holding it above the cup. My blood dripped into it slowly, so slowly that Lord Emrick lost his patience and turned my hand over, cutting across my wrist this time.
   I screamed as the pain shot across my wrist and desperately tried to pull away but he held my arm so tight I thought he might break it. This time it quickly filled the cup. He released my arm and picked up the cup. I pulled my arm close to my body, staining the night gown I was still wearing.
   I watched in horror as Emrick put the cup to his lips and started to drink my blood.
  "What are you?" I said in a hushed tone.
  "My dear, if drinking your blood is all I need then I will be a God." He replied after finishing the cup. He flashed me a toothy smile, revealing two teeth that were longer than the others with a defined point at the ends.